29. January 1972

Aylesbury, Borough Assembly Hall

David Bowie and the band rehearsed for two weeks prior to this warmup show in Aylesbury. A week before the show the biggest selling English music weekly Melody Maker publishes a two-page interview with Bowie titled Oh You Pretty Thing by Michael Watts in which Bowie states that he is gay. This sparks massive media and public interest in Bowie, even though he is marrwho with Angie at the time. The interview proves to be very important for his career.

Borough Assembly Hall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Opening act were Grand Canyon. A warm up performance for David's first major tour since 1969. Bowie performs with newly cut red hair and wearing a bomber jacket and trousers (with a bulging codpiece) rolled up to reveal red plastic boots. The as yet un-named Spiders From Mars wear gold Ziggy-style suits but have not yet fully embraced the total glitter look. Recently Bowie was asked to describe what was happening within the band at this historic moment:

"Woody Woodmansey was saying, “I’m not bloody wearing that!” [Laughs] There were certainly comments, a lot of nerves. Not about the music — I think the guys knew that we rocked. But they were worried about the look. That’s what I remember: how uncomfortable they felt in their stage clothes. But when they realized what it did for the birds . . . The girls were going crazy for them, because they looked like nobody else. So within a couple of days it was, “I’m going to wear the red ones tonight.” - Bowie (2002)

Reviews, comments and photos

"I remember him doing "Rock n Roll Suicide", maybe for the first time. He shouted at the audience, "Gimme your hands, cos you're wonderful" and nobody got up. In those days they used to sit on the floor, and the stage was reasonably high and somebody got up to give him their hands, but only half-heartedly...I remember thinking, Oh that's a strong song, but nobody had heard it." - David Stopps (1999).